1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a strobe driving device for use in a camera having a zoom lens to change the illumination angle in association with the zooming operation.
2. Description of Related Art
A device that is used in a camera having a zoom lens to change the illumination angle of the strobe device in accordance with the focal length of the zoom lens has already been known, and various kinds of such a device having different structures have been put to practical use.
It is known that the photographing lens and the strobe device are preferably spaced apart from each other as much as possible in order to prevent occurrence of the so called red eye phenomenon (or pink eye effect). The red-eye phenomenon is such that the strobe light enters the eyeball of a subject person through the pupil to illuminate the retina, resulting in a picture in which the subject's eye looks red. In theory, no red-eye phenomenon will occur if the strobe light is satisfactorily spaced from the photographing lens. In a camera wherein the illumination angle of the strobe device is varied in accordance with the focal length of the zoom lens, the zoom lens and the strobe device must be spaced from each other as much as possible and the strobe illumination angle varying member must be moved in accordance with the movement of the zoom lens. In any of the conventional devices, however, the movable member of the variable illumination angle strobe device is moved in accordance with the focal length of the photographing lens by use of a cam plate and a gear train; therefore, the prior art has the problem that as the distance between the photographing lens and the strobe device increases, the overall size increases, and/or the number of required parts increases.